Customer Reviews

Past The Point Of Rescue

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hal Ketchum's debut on Curb records offers up quite a succulent dish of Texas country at it's finest. Ketchum can write, and there's nothing better than a writer who performs his own material. You are guaranteed to get the best interpretation in this collection of ten songs, seven of which are written by Ketchum. The artist's talents are evident in the songs "Somebody's Love," "Long Day Comin'," and "She Found The Place," which was recorded previously as "Bobbie's Song" on Ketchum's independent album release, THREADBARE ALIBIS, on Watermelon records in 1986. "Old Soldiers" features Kathy Mattea singing background; "I Miss My Mary" is the reflection of a bar fly as he sees his true love fade away; and "Don't Strike A Match (To The Book Of Love)" tells of haunting dreams caused by a lover's leaving. "Past The Point Of Rescue" and "Small Town Saturday Night" are the hot tickets on the CD. I guess that's why Curb was smart enough to release them as singles and push the CD to the sales it achieved. This is by far my favorite Hal Ketchum CD.

Too much country in the last ten years or so sounds exactly alike. Hal Ketchum has been unjustly neglected in the press of identical "hat acts" whose sound derives primarily from rock rather than true country. Ketchum harkens back to greats like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard and also echoes contemporaries like Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock (q.v.) while maintaining his own strong sound. His social awareness is in evidence, too: Ketchum isn't just a singer, he believes in issues, and is willing to tell us what he believes. To hear Hal Ketchum is to hear one of the unfairly overlooked voices out of Nashville today.

I have every album Hal Ketchum has ever done. To me there is no one better. His voice has a richness and range that cannot be surpassed. He is a master writer, guitar player and singer that transcends any certain category to attach him to. One minute its country, the next a little soul, the next pop etc. A master story teller and usually there is a spiritual side to his music. He can tell a story like no other and you know that he has lived them as well. Well done, Hal!

This is what country music should be! Down to earth stories of average people beautiful played and sung. Some claim Hal lacks `honky tonk' credibility but I am not troubled. He does in some sense, ride the folk/pop line in country music. He could easily compared to folk/pop stars like Paul Simon and Cat Stevens, but with a more earthy perspective. Ernest and impassioned, Hal's attachment to the tunes (even those he didn't write) is obvious. He certainty isn't bland, emotionless professional like many of the cookie cutter Hat acts so popular in the country field today. Past The Point Of Rescue is a song that I never tire of. His version of `Five O'clock World' is the best I've ever heard. "I Miss My Mary' is the moving tale of a working class family man similar in tone to Harry Chapin's Cats Cradle, but somewhat harsher. I can't praise the album enough. To be honest, I was dismissive of country music in general until `Tom The Crazy Sub Driver' introduced me to this album. Clearly the best Hal Ketchum album, it's also my favorite country album. A+

I have a feeling I would have worn out a tape or album.

Ketchum has a smooth, sincere delivery on songs that, for whatever reason, touch my heart. He has taken "Five O'Clock World", normally a perky up-tempo song, and twisted it just enough in his delivery to give a sense of the yearning and anxiousness to get home to the life he really lives.

Pick up this album if you're looking for a nice, mellow, non-hat act, country pop album.

"Five Oclock World" and many other great songs on this one. This CD is a hidden treasure and I'm suprised it didn't get more airplay!!

Though many Amazon reviews tend to be from the "faithful"...perhaps undeservedly rating albums higher than they should be; this CD is one in my considerable collection that doesn't contain a bad song....from the title cut, to "I Miss My Mary" to "I Know Where Love Lives" to Dave Mallett's "Old Soldier" this one is at once well produced and heartfelt...a keeper. So good I even bought the song folio.

The early 90's proved to be very fertile years for new country artists. While Nashville claims it was an oversight (they normally don't allow so many new artists to release albums) I think the infusion of new talent enhanced country immensely. They probably need to do it again (and soon!) judging by the decline in quality country music today.

Hal Ketchum was in that crop of rookies in the early 90's and I think his voice stands out as one of the most unique and melodic I've ever heard. I highly recommend this album to any country fan. This was his first and arguably his best album, though I also enjoyed his "Sure Love" album.

Having just picked up replacement copies of this CD from Amazon, I decided to do a short review and describe what it is about Hal Ketchum and his music that does keep his fans going back for new copies, extra copies, anything he has recorded. The man is talented, the songs are great and a hundred times more country than anything playing on the video channels and radio nowadays, and every song doesn't sound like the last one. I recently heard a CD by a 'country ' singer that literally had almost entire phrases repeated from song to song...this music tells stories, and alot of them. From the title song meaning something different to different listeners - "Am I past the point of rescue? Is no word at all from you the best that you can do?" -- the 'you', in Ketchum's searing musical cry, could be a woman, a religion, even Life itself, to the hymn-like "Long Day Comin'" ("Close your eyes, you got a long day comin', your mama will be callin', that old rooster will crow"), the listener is hearing stories that will remain with them long after the popular junk of today has blurred into wordless static. The two beforementioned songs, along with "I Miss My Mary Tonight" are my favorites on the CD, but there is not a filler on the album. "Long Day" was one of my son's favorite lullabies, and he now is 22 and towers over me, but when he hears it coming through the speakers, he'll stop what he's doing, sit down and say, "Wow, that's a song, Mom." People often ask why George Jones, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris and so many of the other real country royalty cannot get played on tv or radio - Johnny Cash had to die for people to realize what they had just lost -, and I've got to tell you, I have every belief that Hal is future royalty, which means you'll probably have to always hunt his music down. I know for a fact many folks already ask why this country boy isn't more appreciated, and I have no answer. This often gets tagged as alternative country, but as a professional writer, I can't express how many times I wished I'd written the line "Days like a slow train trickle by...even the words that I write, refuse to fly." (from RESCUE). You can't get much more country than getting that train in there, somewhere. A brilliant album, by a hell of a talent!!!!

Hal Ketchum is one of the finest country and western singers and consistently delivers excellent albums like this one. It is a shame that he is overlooked in favour of the new style artists with image but no talent.